Presenting the Union Budget in Parliament recently, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee proposed estimated divestment proceeds of Rs 1,120 crore (Rs 11.2 billion) for 2009-10, which includes divestment in Rail India Technical and Economic Services, Cochin Shipyard Ltd, Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd, Manganese Core India Ltd, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd and Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd.
On the issue of an agreement with China for military exercises in the Indian Ocean, Mukherjee said India had not signed any such pact.
Financial advisor Parag Parikh offered some valuable post-Budget financial planning tips.
The government on Monday allocated an increased sum of Rs 3073 crore for the Sports Ministry in the Union budget for fiscal 2009-10, and also proposed to sanction Rs 3472 crore for next year's Commonwealth Games. The budget for the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has been increased by Rs 1480 crore than what was proposed in the interim budget presented before the Lok Sabha elections.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday said that he has taken tremendous risk to return to higher growth rates by opting for higher deficit and hoped to achieve nine per cent growth next fiscal.
The Union finance ministry is considering an increase in the central excise duty for some of the products that had benefited from the two rounds of reductions announced by the government as part of its fiscal stimulus measures last year.
The Left parties have slammed the government for the vote.
Export growth rate in first nine months of 2008-09 touched 17.1 per cent whereas the country's industrial production fell by 2 per cent in December, said Union Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is holding additional charge of the finance portfolio, while presenting the Interim Budget for 2009-10 on Monday in parliament.
The Union Defence Ministry on Friday ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into alleged payoffs by state-owned South African armament company Denel to a British agent to secure an Indian rifles contract.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to create history when she presents her seventh straight Budget on Tuesday for the fiscal 2024-25, surpassing the record of former prime minister Morarji Desai. Sitharaman, who will turn 65 next month, was in 2019 appointed as India's first full-time woman finance minister when Prime Minister Narendra Modi won a decisive second term.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari was on Wednesday given the additional charge of portfolios held by Gopinath Munde who died in a road accident in New Delhi.
India will get vital flood season data from China for five years as part of a bilateral understanding, which will improve forecast and timely warning in the downstream of the mighty Brahmaputra river. The data will be provided from 2008 to 2012 under a memorandum of understanding signed with Beijing in June this year during the visit of External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee to the Communist country.
After five years of stay in the 340-room Presidential mansion, Pratibha Patil on Wednesday moved to a four bedroom bungalow here at a high-security area in the heart of the capital.
Legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and eminent scientist Prof C N R Rao were conferred with the country's highest civilian honour Bharat Ratna by President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday.
Legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and eminent scientist Prof C N R Rao were conferred with the country's highest civilian honour Bharat Ratna by President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday.
Laying the roadmap for the introduction of a goods and service tax (GST), state governments on Tuesday proposed a dual GST structure, with two rates for goods and a single rate for services. The tax would be levied both by the Centre and the states, though there is still no clarity when the new tax regime will be implemented.
What exactly does the Budget has for the common man? Are you going to benefit from the Budget proposals? Or does it hardly make any effect on your daily life. In an hour-long post-Budget chat on rediff.com, R Seshasayee offered some valuable tips.
The gold prices surged by Rs 100 to close at Rs 14,750 per ten gram in the bullion market on Monday influenced by budgetory proposals to hike import duty on gold bars even as the metal in overseas market quoted lower.
Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee while presenting the Budget 2009-10 in Lok Sabha on Monday announced that a sub-committee of State level Bankers Committee (SLBC) would identify and formulate an action plan for providing banking facilities in under-banked/unbanked areas in the next three years.
The government on Monday said it will soon introduce a Bill to enact a Food Security law that will provide 25 kg of rice and/or wheat at Rs 3 to each family below the poverty line - a key poll promise of the Congress that heads the ruling coalition.
India's gross domestic savings rate increased from 29.8 per cent in 2003-04 to 30.7 per cent in 2007-08, said union Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is holding additional charge of the finance portfolio while presenting the Interim Budget for 2009-10 on Monday in parliament.
President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee along with I&B Minister Manish Tewari pay tribute to the legendary singer.
With the tablet carefully kept inside a red cover with a golden-coloured national emblem embossed on it instead of the briefcase, Parliament will be her next destination after the call on President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhawan.
On Monday, President Pranab Mukherjee announced the names of four new governors, following a series of quick resignations from various states across the nation. Here's a lowdown.
This will be the first visit of Mukherjee to China as President though he has visited the country a number of times in different capacities. The last Presidential visit to China was by Pratibha Patil in 2010.
Mauritius President Rajkeswur Purryag is among the 15 persons and organisations selected for the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman awards for this year.
With the Congress party endorsing his line of action and Chidambaram stating that the Ministry of External Affairs had already begun preparing the required papers for this, it again looks as though Arjun Singh is once again setting the agenda.
Sitharaman, India's first full-time woman finance minister, had in July 2019 ditched the colonial legacy of a Budget briefcase for the traditional 'bahi-khata' to carry Union Budget papers.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday slammed the government on the issue of the cartoon of Dalit icon B R Ambedkar in school text books and accused the Congress of "insulting" Gujjar, Jat, Sikh and Jain communities.
Late on Friday evening, union ministers Sushil Kumar Shinde and Jairam Ramesh met in the office of the former and cancelled the Rs 3000 crore Loharibag Pala Hydroelectric power project which had been cleared by the group of Ministers headed by Pranab Mukherjee. 600 crore had already been spent on the project.
Greater physical, economic and people-to-people connectivity among SAARC nations can foster growth and development in the region, he added.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray has claimed Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had come to his residence and cried that he will be arrested by a central agency if he did not switch over to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), before revolting against the Sena leadership.
The decision to make these changes to the Union Cabinet was apparently taken last week, but the timing of its announcement could not have been more unfortunate, writes Neerja Chowdhury
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Friday requested the Centre to follow "established practices and conventions" and refer the bifurcation issue to the state assembly for "appropriate resolution".
President Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday said the core values of diversity, tolerance and plurality of Indian civilisation must be kept in mind and cannot be wasted, in remarks that come against the backdrop of the Dadri lynching over rumours of beef eating.
Meira Kumar was elected Lok Sabha Speaker unanimously on Wednesday.
The then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was not aware of the Constitutional provisions allowing for declaration of Emergency that was imposed in 1975 and it was Siddartha Shankar Ray who led her into the decision, says President Pranab Mukherjee.
Telangana Rashtra Samithi chief K Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday met Rahul Gandhi, a day after he held consultations with Congress president Sonia Gandhi following the passage of the Telangana bill in Parliament.
Government will lay greater emphasis on social sectors, finance minister said.
'I want to ask the Congress only one question: What is more important than election management in politics?'
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